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PROCEEDINGS 



OK THE 



DEMOCRATIC REPUBLICAN GENERAL COMMITTEE 



OF THE 



CITY OF NE^W YOKK, 



RELATIVE TO THE DEATH OF 



COLONEL WILLIAM D. KENNEDY. 



Democratic Republican General CojiJiirrBE Eooms, 
Tammany Hall, New York, July 24th, 1861. 

At a special meeting of this Committee, held this evening, to take 
action respecting the death of Colonel William D. Kennedy, the Chair- 
man, Hon. Elijah F. Purdy, announced the object of the meeting, where- 
upon the Hon. Nelson J. Waterbury submitted a preamble and resolu- 
tions for the consideration of the Committee, prefacing the same with 
the following remarks : 

Mr. Chairman — Death has entered into our midst and laid his hand 
upon us heavily. One of the most useful and honored of our number. 
Colonel William D. Kennedy, is no more. He died in the very prime 
of manhood, upon the threshold of a new career of usefulness, and in 
the full flush of hope, and vigor, and patriotism. An irreproachable 
record in the past reflected its lustre upon him, and the meteor light of 
glory was bidding him on to a wider fame. It is not necessary, it is 
almost presumption in one of us, to recite here his praises ; for who of 
us all could fail to know and honor his manly spirit, his generous na- 
ture, his bold and ready courage, his unyielding tenacity of purpose, and 
his faithful devotion to principles and friends. 

He has fallen ; but it is not our privilege, as it is not our desire, to be 
the sole mourners around his coffin. This whole city joins in the grief 
of those bound to him by closer ties, and realizes that services are lost 









forever, which had been too valuable to be unt'elt. And within the in- 
ner circle of his home, how terribly the blow has fallen there ! What 
words of ours could lighten the weight of agony, or atone for the fearful 
loss of the stricken widow and the fatherless children, from the girl 
verging on womanhood to the young boy who drew so largely upon the 
fond pride of the fatlier's heart? We realize that the theme is too 
sacred for any utterance of ours, but from our hearts will go up the 
silent prayer, that He, who noteth even the sparrow's fall, will guide, 
protect, and bless that afflicted household. How truly and how fervently 
could each of us, who knew him so well, apply to our departed friend 
and brother the words of the poet : 

'' When hearts whose truth was proven, 
Like thine, are laid inearth, 
There should a wreath be woven. 
To tell the world their worth." 

We cannot now, in the first gush of our grief, braid the coronal for 
hiin, but we gather with heavy hearts and blighted hopes, to drop into 
his grave the flowers of affection, and plant on it the evergreens of me- 
mory. 

Sir, our deceased companion was our representative in the Democratic 
State Committee, the Grand Sachem of the Tammany Society, and, as we 
so well knew, a leading member of this Committee. He was also the 
commanding ofQcer of the regiment of volunteers whose head-quarters 
were at Tammany Hall, and who have gone forth as the representatives 
of this organization, in the contest for the honor and existence of our 
country, which is to be decided upon the field of battle. In the organi- 
zation of this regiment, the efforts of its commander were efiScient to an 
extent which cannot be overstated, and he fell a victim to his intense 
devotion to its service, which, with characteristic ardor, he manifested 
in utter disregard of self. 

The regiment reached Washington on Saturday, and, though he had 
then experienced some of the most fearful and weakening symptoms of 
disease, he refused to ride, but marched at the head of his regiment 
nearly five miles in the hot sun ; and, when expostulated with, said he 
would not ask his men to do what he would not do himself. A comfort- 
able night's sleep partially restored his health, but at an early hour he 
proceeded to the camp, which he was obliged to leave in the middle of 
the day. When he reached his room his arms and legs were already 
cold. The hand of death was upon him, and he died early the next 
morning. It is incumbent upon me here, in behalf of this organization, 
to express our heartfelt thanks to Lieutenant Balch of the Navy, who 



3 

was a stranger to the deceased, but who, on Saturday, invited liim to 
his own house, provided every supply for his comfort, and attended hini in 
liis last hours with the assiduous care of a brother. Nor is our apprecia- 
tion of this generous kindness lessened by the fact, that when Lieutenant 
Balch heard that it was the head of the Tammany organization who had 
been the recipient of his attentions, he replied that it was an organiza- 
tion known to him by its age, and by its reputation of never-failing 
fidelity to the cause of our country, 

The positions held by the deceased at the time of his death atteit the 
greatness of our present loss ; it is, however, but one of many of the 
most serious character which we have met within a few years past, and 
which would have overthrown any organization, unless it was strong 
within itself, tried by more than half a century's test of fidelity and 
patriotism, and thoroughly intrenched in the confidence and respect of 
the people. It seems but as yesterday that we lost our great leader, of 
whom, more than any other man I ever knew, it might be justly said, 

" None knew him but to love bim, 
Nor named him but to praise ! " 

I need not mention the name of Silas Wright. He stood in all the nias- 
siveness of granite, with the beauty of the chiseled column ; but the 
column was broken ere a grateful people had been allowed to place upon 
it the capital which would have given to it completeness. We have since 
lost his friend and successor in the afl'ections and confidence of the De- 
mocracy of this State, William L. Marcy, who had manifested a wisdom 
which had secured the respect of two continents for its profundity, and 
an integrity which rendered his name a watchword of strength to those 
who seek a pure and honest administration of our government. 

These, however, were losses felt throughout the nation, for there was 
not a spot inhabited by man in the recesses of the mountains, nor a se- 
questered nook in any valley, to which there did not come, with the 
tidings of the death of either, a consciousness that a great man had 
fallen. Devoted as they were, however, to this organization in their 
lives, and as it was to tliem, my present purpose is to allude more partic- 
ularly to our own especial losses. Only five years since Robert Kelly died ; 
ere he had reached the zenith of his career, blessed with an accomplished 
intellect, witli ease and independence, in the fruition of public confi- 
dence, thoroughly devoted to Deniocratio principles, in their primal 
purity — he died when signal honors seemed about to rest upon him. 
Then we lost Lorenzo B- Shepard, young, eloquent, and gifted, while he 
was pressing vigorously on in the race of life, faithful in the performance 
of every duty, and the recognition of every obligation, and struggling 
manfully against corruption and wrong. Less than sixty days since. 



James Conner, the late Grand Sachem, died. To middle age and youth 
■was now added the venerable form of old age ; but men of his kindness 
of heart, simplicity of character, and fidelity to friendship, it is hard 
indeed to lose, even though their whitened locks mark them as ripe for 
the reaper. And now his successor is gone — a vigorous brave, with his 
foot upon the war-path, and his bow bent for the enemies of his country. 
May they all rest in peace. 

Each of these four — Kelly, Shepard, Conner, Kennedy — was either 
Chaix-man of the Democratic Republican General Committee or Grand 
Sachem of the Tammany Society. Time would fail me to refer to the 
many other beloved friends and brothers who have departed during the 
same period ; but there come at once to mind the gallant Col. Vosburgh, 
devoted in heart and soul to old Tammany, whose body so lately we fol- 
lowed, as it was borne from the camp of his noble regiment to the com- 
mon resting-place of us all ; and also honest David Kissner, another mem- 
ber of our Committee, who died only three months since, beloved and 
respected by all who knew him. We are also, even now, waiting with 
tremulous anxiety to learn whether another of the cherished members of 
this Committee, the true-hearted Michael Corcoran, has shared the fate 
which has overtaken so many of his brave regiment, in their valiant strug- 
gle to win their country's cause ; but we will not anticipate. Our present 
losses more than fill our hearts, and our hopes whisper to us that we 
shall again greet him within these walls. 

Mr. Chairman, severe as have been our losses, we yet stand together, 
devoted, faithful, firm. We realize our duties, and they will be per- 
formed ; and I know that I but give utterance to the common sentiment 
of us all, when I express the gratification I feel that you are yet spared 
to us, as we trust you will continue to be for very many years. Twenty-five 
years ago, when, a mere boy, I strolled into this hall, I saw you here, a 
leader of the host. Most of us have grown up to love and respect you ; 
and our prayers will unceasingly ascend to the Giver of all good, that 
you may long continue to be our guide and counsellor, our father, and 
our friend. Old Tammany, the home of our affections, and the strong- 
hold of our hopes, would be even strange to us without you ; for you, as 
well as all of the departed ones I have named this evening, have always 
been Avitli Tammany, and for myself, I may say that as in my boyhood I 
sought her portals, I hope that, even should my life be spared until my 
limbs tremble with age, they will yet continue to bear me within her 
sacred precincts. 

In the notice which I have taken of our departed friends and brethren, 
I would not say a single word to dampen the ardor of the living. Human 
progress in these eventful times is a ceaseless, mighty, rushing current. 



which cannot be stayed by the death of any, even of the best, the 
wisest, and the most useful. At the present crisis in the history of our 
country, less than ever does it become a patriot to despond. Our country 
yet survives, and will continue to exist through all time, great, glorious 
and free, demanding the homage and the service of every true son. In this 
her hour of danger. Old Tammany has neither hesitated nor faltered, 
and she will not. Not one reverse, nor many, can overcome the irresisti- 
ble impulse of the nation's heart, thatthe Union, the Constitution, and the 
Flag of this Kepublic, shall again extend, unbroken and triumphant, 
from the Northern Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, and from the Atlantic 
Ocean to the golden shores of the Pacific. I submit, sir, the following 
preamble and resolutions for adoption : 

Whereas, We have received the sad intelligence that Col. Wm. D. 
Kennedy, an influential member of this Committee, and also a member 
of the Democratic State Committee, the Grand Sachem of the Tammany 
Society, and the commanding officer of the Jackson Guard (the Tammany 
Eegiment of Volunteers), died in Washington, on Monday morning last, 
therefore 

Resolved, Tliat in the death of Col. Kennedy this Committee, of which 
he had been for many years a leading and useful member ; this city, to 
whose welfare and prosperity he had contributed so largely ; the great 
Democratic cause, the ceaseless struggle for sound principles and an 
honest government, in which he had been a most faithful soldier ; and 
the existing struggle for the maintenance of our National Union, to 
which he had rendered great and signal service by the enrollment 
and organization of a full and noble regiment of men, have sustained an 
irreparable loss. 

Resolved, That all who knew our deceased associate will bear witness to 
the noble qualities of his heart and the manly impulses of his nature. 
True, honest, and bold, he was always in the front rank of every contest 
in which he participated ; never overbearing in victory nor disheartened 
by defeat ; self-reliant and careful in his demands upon his friends, but 
firm and faithful in his attachments, he endeared himself to those bound 
to him by the ties of common interests, objects, and hopes, with a warmth 
that was controlling, and a tenacity that could not be severed. 

Resolved, That deep and heartfelt as is our own grief luider this severe 
affliction, we realize and feel the far heavier weight with which it falls 
upon his bereaved family, and we tender to them, in this their hour of 
agony, the expression of our earnest sympathy, and of our sincere hopes 
and wislaes for their future welfare. 



Resolved, That this Committee-room and tlie front of this Hall he 
draped in mourning, and that the members of this Committee attend the 
funeral of the deceased, in a body, on Friday afternoon, at two o'clock. 

Resolved, That the regiment of which our deceased brother was the gal- 
lant leader, organized under tiie auspices of this Cornmittee, representing 
the sentiments of the great Democratic masses of our city, and bearing 
the colors of our organization, -will continue to be our representatives in 
the Grand Army of the nation ; and, while deploring the death of their 
and our chosen leader in the great struggle for national existence and 
national honor, we shall ^vatch and sustain each step in the career of our 
Brothers of the Tammany Regiment, with an earnest and devoted interest, 
confidently relying on them to maintain, with unswerving courage, the 
principles and precepts of our party in this hour of our country's peril. 

Resolved, That the forgoing preamble and resolutions, duly certified by 
the officers of this Committee, be published, and a copy transmitted to 
the -widow of the deceased, and also to the Tammany Eegiment. 

John Vance, Esq. , briefly addressed the Committee in reference to the 
worth and services of Col. Kennedy, s^nd seconded tl^e resolutions, where- 
upon the same were unanimously adopted: 

On motion of Thomas Byrnes, Esq., it was ordered that a committee be 
appointed to express to Lieut. Balch, of the U. S. Navy, the appreciation 
by this Committee of his kindness and attention to their late lamented 
associate, Col. Kennedy; and the Chairman appointed as such Committee, 
Messrs. Thomas Byrnes, John Vance, John Kelly, Nelson J. Waterbury, 
and William M. Tweed. 

The Committee then adjourned to the following afternoon, for the pur- 
pose of attending the funeral of the deceased. 

ELIJAH F. PUEDY, Chairman. 

John Hardy, I c j ■ 
i T> T> r Secretaries. 

A. B. Rollins, J 



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